Carbon xerogel from 5-methylresorcinol-formaldehyde gel: The controllability of structural properties

Abstract

Sol-gel-derived porous carbon is an attractive electrode material for various applications because its structure, along with its physical properties, can be tailored to the specified task by selecting suitable precursors and synthesis conditions. To complement oil shale-based sol-gel materials, in the current study, the tunability of the properties of 5-methylresorcinol-formaldehyde (5MR-FA) carbon xerogel is examined. As expected, the porosity of the 5MR-FA carbon xerogel is lower than those of the corresponding carbon aerogels, but the specific surface area in the range of 2–417 m2/g and the electrical conductivity of 0.8 S/cm demonstrate the potential of this xerogel in electrochemical applications as an electrode material. Furthermore, the synthesis conditions and final structure of the resulting carbon were in satisfactory correlation, including with the results of spectroscopy analysis. Na2CO3, which is used as a catalyst in this sol-gel reaction, affects the structure of the resulting carbon. In this study, it was established that the oxidation level of carbon and the short-range structural order and disorder are also influenced by the amount of Na2CO3, which is supported by the trends in the electrical conductivity results.